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BASKETBALL: Late spurt lifts Indians over Lions

Posted December 27, 2011 10:00 pm

Doug Daniels

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Though they were in control most of the night with a lead, Du Quoin had to fight for their third conference victory of the 2011-12 season on Friday night when they hosted Carterville at Anders Gymnasium.

John Galik helped spark a late 7-0 run for the Indians with a steal, a fast-break lay-up, and a three-pointer that aided in Du Quoin's 51-48 win over the Lions, improving DHS to 3-0 in the Mississippi Division of the Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference.

"Overall when you have a tough night like this, the kids pull together and come out on top, you've got to be proud of them," said Indians' head coach Gabe Sveda.

"We've still got a long way to go, we're still a young team as far as experience goes. Games like this, another tight game where we come down and hit some free throws at the end, took care of the ball, and you've got to be proud of them for that."

Du Quoin led 13-8 in the early-going after a three-point play on a turnaround by Brandon Williams, but the Lions got a three from Dalton Brown to close the gap at the end of the first quarter as the Indians found it difficult to navigate Carterville's zone defense.

"They had a good game plan, they kind of took us out of rhythm early with that zone and they helped really well in the post with our bigs in there," said Sveda.

Brown connected again from downtown on Carterville's first possession of the second, but Nate Boss and the Indians had an answer. Boss sank threes on back-to-back trips for DHS, both from the corner, giving the Indians a five-point cushion at 19-14.

Brenden Fred scored at the halftime buzzer to keep Du Quoin out in front 25-21, then scored the first three points of the second half from beyond the arc. The Indians led by as many as eight points in the third after Dillon Beltz scored on a put-back and was fouled, but Carterville refused to go away.

The Lions fought back to tie the score on Michael Aschemann's stick-back moments into the fourth period, then Aschemann stole it away from a fast-break layup with 5:00 left in the game for Carterville's first lead since early in the second quarter.

The Lions led 42-40 when Cayle Diggins tied it up, then Galik's steal created the opportunity that Du Quoin had been waiting for to take control.

Galik laid it in with 2:47 to play for a two point lead, then after a Lions' miss came back down and buried a three for a five-point lead, and Carterville got no closer than three points the rest of the way.

Wiliams' 13 points led the way for Du Quoin, N. Boss added 12, Diggins and Fred each had 9, Galik 5 and Di. Beltz 3.

The Indians (4-4, 3-0) are back in action on Tuesday at the Duster Thomas Hoops Classic in Pinckneyville, with their first game at 11:30 a.m. against unbeaten Olney (East Richland). Du Quoin then returns in the night session to take on Lawrenceville at 4:00 p.m.

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